Skeleton Leaves
by Helvetica1Revolution
Summary: She was a child of science haunted by memories and the ghosts of what could have been. He doesn't understand- but he's trying. OFC pairing
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

When Karen's eyes open she screams; arms are wrapping around her, a mouth at her neck, _why did you do it little bird, now the punishment_, and she has to escape. She jerks away from the stifling arms and finds the surface underneath her giving way-

"_No!_" she howls, thrashing. "_No!"_

"Karen?"

Karen stills slightly in her frenzied paroxysms and searches in the dark for the familiar voice. She can see a familiar figure silhouetted in the soft light coming from the kitchen, broad shoulders and thick muscular arms- it's Superboy. Why isn't Superboy saving her from the arms and the mouth?

Karen suddenly feels clarity wash over her consciousness, and she looks down at her surroundings. A micro-plush blanket is wrapped around her lower body and she's half-laying on the floor directly below the couch. Couch: she was sleeping on the couch. It was a nightmare.

"Oh god," Karen half moans as she shifts to sit up on the floor. Her knees rise under the blanket and she rests her elbows against them, burying her head in her hands. The contents of the dream are fading but she still feels the horrible dread, like a vise squeezing her ribcage.

"Karen?" Superboy asks again, sounding vastly uncomfortable. "Are you okay?"

Karen rubs at her face, struggling to get a grip. When she finally looks up her voice is more composed. "Sorry. Nightmare. I'm fine."

Usually this monosyllable communication is enough to satisfy him, but he takes another step towards the couch. She can see the buckling of his brow, but the shadows make it impossible to see if it's concern or just uncertainty at how to deal with the situation.

"Are you sure? I…I could call Black Canary…?"

"No." Karen says shortly. "It was just a nightmare. I'm fine"

He stands unmoving for another moment, as if he knows she's bullshitting him, but Karen was already standing and kicking the blanket away from her legs. She let her wings unfold from where they'd been curled at her back, closing her eyes as she flexed her shoulder muscles and felt the tips of the wings flutter. They were translucent and green, almost like large skeleton leaves, and edged in a grey metal piping that extended to the base of the wings and laced through her spinal cord. She could feel Connor staring at her as she stretched. Karen had been here for almost a month, and he still couldn't help himself. They were two sides of the same genetically engineered coin.

She edges past him to move into the kitchen and dig through the fridge for a bottle of water. Runaway strands from her short brown curls catch at the corners of her mouth, and she reaches back with an impatient hand to push her hair away. She knows she must look ridiculous, dressed in grubby sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt with a hole cut in the back for her wings (which she usually keeps curled up between missions to avoid the stares) but it's at least three in the morning, and somehow she just can't bring herself to care.

_now the punishment, now the punishment_

Karen takes a swig of water to hide the shudder that's running through her body. She turns back to Superboy, clearing her throat.

"How come no one woke me when I fell asleep on the couch?" She asks. The words are supposed to sound authoritative, like one team mate questioning another on a failed mission, but she just sounds tired.

He shrugs, leaning against the wall. Karen notices that he's still wearing his Superman t-shirt and jeans rather than pajamas.

"What were you doing in the kitchen?"

He looks slightly insulted at the questioning. "I was making a sandwich and I heard you start screaming in the main room, so I went to see if you were okay. It's not like I was watching you sleep or anything."

Karen glances at the dining room table in the far corner of the kitchen, where the team eats their meals. There was indeed a half-eaten sandwich, sitting next to some indistinguishable copy of a book. Alright. So he had a reason, albeit a strange one, for being in the room next to her at some ungodly hour of the morning.

"I never said you were." she replies dully. Another scan of the room shows that her guess was right; the digital clock in the far corner of the room blinks 3:22 AM. She should gather up her water bottle and her micro-plush blanket and go to bed in her own room, but the thought of the empty elevator and dark hallways she would have to journey through to get there make the vise tighten again.

_little bird, now the punishment_

"You know, you should-" Superboy starts to say, then stops. He looks at a loss. "You should know that… there are people you can talk to. It's not like you're alone up here or anything."

Karen looks at him. He is honestly trying to reach to reach out to her, so why does it make her feel sick to her stomach? Why does she feel the need to flee?

She nods vaguely and takes another drink of water, looking out to the living room. The couch cushions are half on the floor, upset from her panic attack. "I think I'm going to watch some TV before I head to bed. You mind?"

"No." He sounds sharper than he did before, as if she's disappointed him. Karen wanders past him, and as she passes the tip of her right wing drags across his chest. She flinches violently, almost dropping her water bottle. For a moment she wonders if he's going to acknowledge what just happened.

Superboy says nothing. Karen clears her throat for the second time and keeps walking to the couch.


	2. Chapter 2

"So Karen, why don't you tell me a little more about how you got your wings?"

Karen sits ram-rod straight in the padded chair, ignoring Black Canary's earlier entreatment to relax and staring at the carpet studiously. Each team member gets a day of the week to discuss anything that might be bothering them, to maintain the collective mental health of the Young Justice League, and today is Thursday; Karen's day.

"We've talked about it before," Karen says carefully. Back in the lab she used to make a sport of it, being disrespectful to the behavioral scientists that would ask "_So how do you__** feel**__?"_, but now she's a little afraid of what might happen if she angers Black Canary. Could they kick her off the team? "My father was a genetic engineer who discovered the possibility of introducing a foreign element permanently to the body, and he tested his theory by surgically implanting me with wing-like structures. The experiment was a success. What else do you want to know?"

"You told me the scientific procedure, but I'm more interested in the emotional effect it had on you. It couldn't have been easy, undergoing such a monumental change at only nine years old."

Karen looks uncomprehendingly at her. "If they had waited until I was older my spinal column wouldn't have been receptive to the sensors."

The older blond woman sighs, leaning back in her chair.

"Karen, we've been having these session for almost four weeks now and I still don't know a single personal thing about you. You've told me that your mother left when you were very young, and that your father signed you up for an extremely invasive surgery soon afterward. That had to have triggered some feelings of fear or unhappiness."

A bitter taste rises in Karen's mouth, and she realizes after a moment that she's unconsciously biting down on her tongue. She forces herself to stop.

It had been a Friday night, the last night she'd seen her mother. She could remember the smell of a busy kitchen as her mother chopped and cooked, singing along to a CD playing. Karen had sat at the table coloring. She had slouched easily, in the way that children sat; she had not yet felt metal between her shoulder blades.

Then her father had come home from work and the memory became shuddery, like an old film reel missing a few pictures. There was masculine laughter, the pop of a champagne bottle. Karen had clapped her hands and laughed too, excited by her father's good news (even though she did not comprehend the nature of it). Then, oddly, her mother shouting. Pushing away from the counter. The champagne bottle falling and spewing bubbly yellow liquid onto the rug. Fighting. Karen's mother had strode angrily over to the table and grabbed Karen's hand, as if to drag her away_. "Mama!"_ Karen had cried. Her wedding ring bit into Karen's wrist.

Then, nothing. Her mother disappeared from her life as if she'd never been a part of it, and the only explanation her father had given was that she'd never wanted to be a mother in the first place. She was too weak.

A few days later she was sent to live at her father's research facility, and when she finally walked out of it at ten years-old the metal monstrosity came with her.

"I wasn't scared." Karen says, pausing to choose her words carefully. "My father explained everything to me- it was an opportunity to be a part of something revolutionary."

"Then why does it say in your medical records that at eleven you made an attempt to cut the wings out with a surgical scalpel?"

Karen closes her eyes briefly and says nothing. She knew Black Canary would bring it up eventually, but she didn't expect her to say it so abruptly. It hurts more than she anticipated.

_Why did you do it, little bird? Don't you like your wings?_

"I was still a kid." Karen finally replies. "I was adjusting."

_You've hurt my feelings. Now the punishment._

"It was a stupid thing to do. I knew the wings were permanent. I was still just a kid."

_Shh. It's okay. It'll be over soon._

Karen stands suddenly, almost violently. Her wings twitch in agitation. She can feel the mouth at her neck again; she has to get out of here.

"Look, can I go? Are we done?"

Black Canary appraises her from her seat in the chair. Karen has to fight the urge to lunge at her and claw the concern off her face.

"Alright. We can talk about it more next week."

"Right," Karen snaps, already turning and striding quickly from the room. "Thanks."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Ugh!"

Artemis grunts as Karen lands a blow in her midsection, curling around her fist slightly and stumbling back a few steps. Karen had lessened the force she put behind the punch once she saw it would hit its target but followed through; it was an unspoken agreement between them to pull no punches when they were sparring, and as a result they often both came away bruised and sore.

Artemis recovers by spinning from her half curled position and sweeping a foot out, catching Karen by the ankles. She goes down, startled, and lands hard on her back. The curled-up bud of her wings juts uncomfortably into her skin.

Artemis steps forward and presses a boot against Karen's neck, placing only the slightest pressure before stepping away again. Her point has been made- Karen lost.

"Don't hang back and take a breath after you've landed a hit," she advises, reaching a hand down to help Karen up. "Land a hit and then take advantage of it."

Karen nods. They both resume their sparring positions, Artemis taking a brief moment to rub her bruised abdomen, and they lunge at each other again.

In less than half an hour the whole team will show up for group training, but the two girls like to head to the gym early to work privately on hand-to-hand combat. That meant no arrows or wings (the way Karen secretly prefers.) Just the two of them fighting naturally.

Karen has been coming to the gym more often since her last session with Black Canary, sometimes just to work until her muscles is sore. The others are usually keep busy with recreational activities in the free time they have, so Karen is often alone when she jogs the track or does lifts at the chin-up bar. It's a habit she picked up from her time in the lab, maintaining her high standard of fitness, but it's also a defense. The memories leave her alone when she's fighting to catch her breath.

"Oof!" Karen manages to catch Artemis in the abdomen again and this time follows up with an open-handed blow to the head. She finishes with a hard push against her shoulders and Artemis loses her balance, disoriented. Karen moves towards her sparring partner lying on the ground, about to put her shoe against her neck as a signal she's won, and suddenly finds her feet swept out from underneath her again. Karen hits the mat hard and in a flash feels the pressure at her throat. Damn it!

"You let your guard down again." Artemis says with some exasperation. "I can't believe was able to knock you down twice with the same move."

"It's a cheap trick." Karen protests, pushing her foot away and sitting up. "I figured you had _higher standards_."

"Who's the one that punched me in the same place twice, Miss Higher Standards?" Artemis shoots back. She flops down next to Karen on the mat, groaning softly. "Man, I'm gonna have a big ugly bruise right across my stomach. Bet you Wally will make some stupid joke too."

Karen sneaks a glance at her friend but doesn't respond. Artemis and Wally's childish denial of their attraction to each other was none of her business.

"Hey, you guys are here early!"

The two glance over to see Megan float through the main entrance with a trail of boys behind her. Wally zips over to them and grins down at Karen.

"Need a hand gorgeous?" He offers flirtatiously, no doubt baiting Artemis. Karen wipes her sweating palms on the blue leggings of her fighting costume and accepts his extended hand, but she is looking past him to the others. For a moment she and Superboy lock eyes and the events of the past night are replayed mentally between them. Karen is the first to look away.

"Oh grow up Wally." Artemis mutters angrily. Wally half turns to her but she's already up and stomping across the room to grab her bow and arrow from where they're leaning against the wall. Karen has to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

The team can hear Black Canary's heels clicking down the hall before she enters and they all stand a little straighter, preparing themselves. Karen thinks that she should uncurl her wings to get ready, but looks at the six other teenagers surrounding her and decides not to. Instead she busies herself with stretching until their mentor enters the room.

"Is everyone here? Good." Canary surveys the team critically. The _"how do you __**feel**__?" _softness her voice takes on during counseling sessions has vanished. "We're going to try something new today."

The team mates look at each other uneasily. Megan, perhaps the only one who looks excited at the prospect, smiles. "What are we doing?"

"Today we'll be running some one-on-one sparring sessions, like we usually do, but this time I'm going to mix it up a little bit. You'll be changing partners."

This time the uneasiness manifests itself in murmurs among the small crowd. Canary has always had them go up against team mates that used a similar fighting style to avoid any unfair advantages, and due to the uneven number she paired off against Robin. Who was going to get her now?

"So this'll be the line-up: Artemis and Wally, Megan and Robin, Karen and Connor, and I'll be sparring with Kaldur. Any objections?"

"Um, _yeah_!" Wally and Artemis both exclaim, as expected. Black Canary is talking to them sternly but Karen doesn't hear her; she's staring at Connor. She can feel blood pounding in her ears.

_You're not alone up here_

"Alright, enough! I want you off in pairs at the far corners of the room, same rules as always. I'll be monitoring the results, so no screwing around- and _no blood-shed_." This is directed at Artemis, who grimaces. They all retreat to their opposite corners more slowly than usual.


	4. Chapter 4

**So after publishing three chapters I realized that I'd been spelling Superboy's name wrong: 'Connor' instead of 'Conner'. Oops! Kind of embarrassing, but I'm not sure how to go back and change it so I'll just make an effort to spell it right in the next few chapters. I'm also a little iffy on the actual plausibility of surgically implanted 'wings' (and more importantly, if it makes my character a Mary-Sue) so if you guys think it's a little bit much let me know so I can avoid making the same mistake twice! Thanks for reading :)**

* * *

Chapter Four

Karen and Conner come to face each other by the punching bags, in a corner that is perhaps farther removed from the others than Karen prefers. She debates again whether to use flight and looks around at the terrain in which they'll be sparring. It's got a high ceiling but the space is too confined, with no drafts or winds to use. Her wings are practically useless in this situation.

She looks at him evenly, waiting. He raises his eyebrows almost imperceptibly- _ready when you are._

"Hey you two, this isn't a staring contest!" Black Canary shouts from across the gym. Karen feels a wave of embarrassment and relaxes into her fighting stance, elbows bent slightly and arms up. She starts to circle him, expecting him to follow suit, but he just stands there. Alright, so it looks like she'll be initiating the match.

Karen lunges forward and feints a blow to the right before following through towards his upper left. He blocks it easily with his forearm and pushes her back. She spins and tries to land another blow at his shoulder but this he doesn't even block, and her fist makes contact. It's like punching a brick wall. She gasps and stumbles back cradling her hand.

"Are you okay?" Conner is frowning. He looks almost guilty, as if it's his fault Karen punched him. He reaches an arm out as if to touch her shoulder and she is suddenly furious.

"I'm fine," she snarls. The irony of how similar their dialogue sounds to the previous night is not lost on her. "But what's wrong with _you_? You're not even trying!"

"I'm trying." he retorts. Karen glares at him.

"If your fighting technique is to stand there like some big stupid wall then fine, but don't patronize me! We're supposed to be sparring!"

Karen can see this insult hits home and is perversely glad. "Fine!" he snaps back.

This time when they settle back into their stances he is the one to charge her, and Karen has to duck wildly to avoid his fists. She can see he's holding back some, but the current force he is using looks like enough to throw her back against the wall anyways so she doesn't take any chances. Using moves she picked up from Artemis she weaves and spins around his lunging figure, turning his bulk into a disadvantage. He struggles to keep up with her but her movements are too agile, and none of his blows land.

Karen thinks furiously as she continues to dodge him. He hasn't hit her but neither has she, and she can't keep this insane dance up forever. She decides to take a risk and breaks in their pattern to launch a roundhouse kick at his throat. It hits him but he is barely fazed. He takes the opportunity to grab her foot and swing her entire body off the ground, and time suddenly seems to slow down as Karen feels herself moving through the air. When she hits the punching bag all the breath leaves her lungs in a horrible choking sound; she falls forward onto her knees, gasping. Pain arcs through her spine.

"Shit!" Conner curses from a few feet away. He runs forward and hesitates before half-crouching next to her, hands moving helplessly at his sides. "Shit, are you alright? I didn't mean to throw you so _hard_."

Karen feels like she should be irritated by his guilt the way she was earlier, but she's focusing on breathing and everything else seems very unimportant in the moment. She finally starts to feel her body adjusting from the shock, calming down. She's okay, but her back still hurts like hell._  
_

"Don't...flatter yourself." She manages to croak. "I barely even...felt it."

The worry on Conner's face starts to ease. He looks like he's hiding some amusement. "Oh you didn't, huh? What was up with the gasping bit then?"

"Don't...be an asshole."

He laughs, surprised, and Karen almost smiles. She hasn't heard him laugh before. It's kind of nice.

"You better get up before Canary spots us." Conner says, offering his hand. Karen takes it and stifles a groan as he rises and pulls her with him. Aside from the sting of her skin slapping against the material of the punching bag there is a sharper pain between her shoulder blades, above her wings. She is just wondering what it is when she sees concern return to Conner's face.

"There's some blood on the punching bag."

Karen frowns, turning to look. There's a small patch smeared towards the bottom, where she landed.

She cranes her neck to look behind her, but can't see much. "Did I cut myself?"

"Yeah." Conner is staring at her back. "It's bleeding."

"How bad is it?"

He doesn't answer, so she reaches back and probes the skin above her wings with her fingertips. She can feel some shreds of skin and a small area that is particularly sensitive, but her hand comes away with only a few spots of blood. She wipes it on her pants dismissively.

"It was probably the metal piping on my wings. Sometimes they cut my skin if I fall really hard against them."

Conner seems like he has no idea what to say; Karen can sense another apology coming, and she touches on his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, don't worry about it. Happens all the time."

His eyes meet hers suddenly, as if her touch surprised him, and then something in the air shifts. Karen is suddenly hyper aware of the hard ropes of muscles under her palm, the warmness of his skin under his shirt, the force of his eyes that feels almost like a tangible touch. She realizes dimly that she hasn't been this close to a boy in a long time, and that she wants to get closer. She wonders what it would feel like if she kissed him.

_You taste good, Little Bird. Like strawberries._

Karen jerks her hand away, flushing. The memories are pushing against her chest again, telling her exactly what it would feel like if she kissed him. She looks away from his gaze and clears her throat.

Seconds and years pass before Black Canary raises her voice over the sound of thumps and panting from the other sparring partners. "Alright, it's time to move on to the next exercise. I've been watching all of you fight and I have some feedback, but we'll do some obstacle course training as a team first." One by one she asks them if they feel one of them won the match. When she gets to Karen and Conner, Karen doesn't look at him. She clears her throat to keep the peculiar waver out of her voice.

"Conner won." she says, as if it means nothing. "Conner won the match."

For the rest of the training session she feels his gaze on her like a hand.


	5. Chapter 5

**This is a shorter one, but I enjoyed writing this one so I decided to finally publish it :) **

Chapter Five

Water rushes up at Karen's toes and crashes against her ankles, sending fingers of white foam up her legs that evaporate within seconds. The air is salty and cold, making her nose run. It's cloudy; not the best day for the beach. Robin and Wally charge whooping into the water anyways.

"Bet I can reach that buoy before you can!"

"Even with your super speed I'm still a faster swimmer than you, KF!"

The boys jump on each other, dunking each other's heads and crowing, and just as quickly they turn and start paddling frantically in the opposite direction of the shore. Artemis stands next to Karen in the shallows, watching them with a stifled smile. Behind them Megan is still laying out her towel and setting up her umbrella. Karen doesn't know what Superboy is doing, and she tells herself she doesn't care.

"It's weird, how Kaldur used to live underwater." Artemis comments suddenly, staring off into the ocean. She glances over at Karen. "You think it's dark down there?"

Karen imagines their team leader swimming through a city of watery shadows, with glowing fishy eyes peering at him from doorways. "I don't think so," she says, more to convince herself than Artemis. She doesn't want to think about Kaldur down in the dark.

There's suddenly more splashing behind them, and Megan bounds forward. "C'mon guys!" she calls, squealing as the water slaps against her green skin. "The water feels great!"

Karen shifts from foot to foot doubtfully. The water actually does feel great, warm despite the overcast, but she's hesitant to submerge her wings fully. The white sheaths are water-proof but the metal might rust if left damp, so she always has to bend her arms awkwardly to try and dry them off with a towel. It's easier to avoid getting them wet in the shower-but dunking them in salt water? It'll be such a pain.

She sees a sneaky grin cross Artemis' face, and before she can react her friend is grabbing her around the waist and yanking her off her feet.

"No, don't-" Karen starts to gasp, but Artemis jumps up and splashes unceremoniously into the water with her arms still wrapped around Karen. The two girls are launched underwater. When they come up Megan is trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.

"Oh Artemis, that was mean!"

Artemis grins with mirth, unlocking her hold on Karen. Karen splutters and pushes wet hair out of her face, coughing. When she blinks the salt water from her eyes she can see her friends waiting for her reaction. Karen is surprised when she feels a smile tugging at her lips.

"You are so going to regret that!" she warns, her bemused expression lessening the seriousness of her tone. Artemis ducks underwater with a yelp and she chases her towards shore, jumping onto her shoulders once they leave the water. They wrestle, shrieking and completely indifferent to how silly they look rolling on the ground. Karen is having so much fun that she doesn't even notice Connor watching them from a short distance away.

Artemis maneuvers herself on top of her squirming opponent and grabs her wrists, pinning them to the sand. She whoops triumphantly. "Admit defeat! I got you!"

"Death first!" Karen's shout is muffled by sand. Artemis pushes Karen further into the shore face-down, screeching "Say it! Say it!"

Suddenly the weight on Karen's back is lifted. Karen looks up, startled. Connor has grabbed Artemis by the waist and tossed her into the water.

Karen pushes up onto her elbows, staring up at him with bewilderment. She is at a loss for words.

Conner's face is unreadable, but she thinks she can see is traces of a smile. "I thought you could use a little help."

From the water they hear Artemis burst to the surface. "Cheater!" she shouts distantly. They ignore her.

"We were just messing around." Karen finally says. He shrugs. The smile on his face is definitely there now.

"You were getting your ass handed to you."

She decides not to answer him, and instead rises onto her knees to stand. He offers his hand but she pretends not to see it and straightens by herself. Her hair, her wings, her skin- everything is wet and covered in sand. Why is it that every time she runs into him she's a mess?

Karen can once again feel Connor staring at her, not even bothering to hide it. His eyes run up and down her body with an almost child-like curiosity, and she suddenly feels a cramping in her stomach. She remembers the last time eyes looked at her like that, as if they wanted to touch her. She remembers what happened.

"Look," she says coldly. Her playfulness has been replaced by steely indifference, as if she were addressing a dangerous stranger. "I'm not interested in you, alright? We're team mates. That's it."

His eyes rise again to meet hers, surprised. He frowns. "I didn't…I never said you were."

Karen hates herself for the blood that she can feel rising to her cheeks. She tries to deaden herself, to focus on everything but the wounded look on his face. She imagines herself as a marble statue. "Good. Because I'm not."

As usual, Karen is the first to walk away. This time, though, it's because she doesn't want him to see that she's lying.


End file.
